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Boy cuts neck after cycling into National Day mini-flags
His mother thought someone had tried to strangle him with a rope or wire
By Zaihan Mohamed Yusof
August 05, 2009
ACCIDENT: Clyde Chong (above), who was cut by a string of small flags hung along an HDB corridor (below). TNP PICTURES: ZAIHAN MOHAMED YUSOF
THEIR son was unusually quiet when he got home from cycling on Thursday night.
Then the parents saw it: a 6-cm wound across the boy's neck.
Their first thought was that somebody had tried to strangle their boy with a wire or rope.
But the truth was less dramatic. Clyde Chong, 7, is believed to have got caught in a string of flags hung in front of a kindergarten under his Jurong East HDB block.
Said Clyde's mother, a 35-year-old pharmacist who gave her name as Mrs Chong: 'When we asked him what happened, he could not tell us, because by then he was crying in pain. But he later told us what happened.'
The boy's parents went downstairs to investigate, and according to them, found a line of mini-flags, used as part of National Day decorations, on the floor.
Come undone
It seemed as though one end of the string holding the flags had come undone, while the other end was still attached to the wall on the side of the kindergarten.
The family had earlier been there, around 9.30pm.
Apparently, the boy had been cycling on the left side of the corridor when his neck got entangled in the line.
Said Clyde: 'It's not so painful. The cord just stopped me on the spot. I immediately removed it and carried on cycling.'
Neither Mrs Chong, who had been walking several metres behind her son, nor her husband, Mr Darren Chong, had noticed the accident.
Later that night, the boy was taken to a clinic where he was given medication for rope burns.
When this reporter met the family on Monday night, Mrs Chong said the boy seemed 'back to normal'.
While the skin around Clyde's neck looked as though it was healing well, some parts remained raw.
His mother said that on Friday there was pus around the wound.
Added Mr Chong, 37: 'Luckily the string that held the flag was not made of wire or fibreglass. It could have sliced deep into my son's neck.
'We would like to tell those who put up National Day decorations to be careful.
'They must ensure that the decorations are tamper-proof and don't come apart easily. If a person had tripped on the string, he could have also been injured.'
On Friday morning, Mrs Chong said she told a supervisor at the kindergarten about what had happened the previous night.
On the same day, the flags that had come loose were removed from the corridor.
Boy cuts neck after cycling into National Day mini-flags
His mother thought someone had tried to strangle him with a rope or wire
By Zaihan Mohamed Yusof
August 05, 2009
ACCIDENT: Clyde Chong (above), who was cut by a string of small flags hung along an HDB corridor (below). TNP PICTURES: ZAIHAN MOHAMED YUSOF
THEIR son was unusually quiet when he got home from cycling on Thursday night.
Then the parents saw it: a 6-cm wound across the boy's neck.
Their first thought was that somebody had tried to strangle their boy with a wire or rope.
But the truth was less dramatic. Clyde Chong, 7, is believed to have got caught in a string of flags hung in front of a kindergarten under his Jurong East HDB block.
Said Clyde's mother, a 35-year-old pharmacist who gave her name as Mrs Chong: 'When we asked him what happened, he could not tell us, because by then he was crying in pain. But he later told us what happened.'
The boy's parents went downstairs to investigate, and according to them, found a line of mini-flags, used as part of National Day decorations, on the floor.
Come undone
It seemed as though one end of the string holding the flags had come undone, while the other end was still attached to the wall on the side of the kindergarten.
The family had earlier been there, around 9.30pm.
Apparently, the boy had been cycling on the left side of the corridor when his neck got entangled in the line.
Said Clyde: 'It's not so painful. The cord just stopped me on the spot. I immediately removed it and carried on cycling.'
Neither Mrs Chong, who had been walking several metres behind her son, nor her husband, Mr Darren Chong, had noticed the accident.
Later that night, the boy was taken to a clinic where he was given medication for rope burns.
When this reporter met the family on Monday night, Mrs Chong said the boy seemed 'back to normal'.
While the skin around Clyde's neck looked as though it was healing well, some parts remained raw.
His mother said that on Friday there was pus around the wound.
Added Mr Chong, 37: 'Luckily the string that held the flag was not made of wire or fibreglass. It could have sliced deep into my son's neck.
'We would like to tell those who put up National Day decorations to be careful.
'They must ensure that the decorations are tamper-proof and don't come apart easily. If a person had tripped on the string, he could have also been injured.'
On Friday morning, Mrs Chong said she told a supervisor at the kindergarten about what had happened the previous night.
On the same day, the flags that had come loose were removed from the corridor.
